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PAGE I LONG ISLAND PRESS
DEM FLOOR FIGHT LOOMS OVER DIXIE DELEGATIONS
WALKOUT BY SOME POSSIBLE
AUG 24 1964
ATLANTIC CITY (API-
Mississippi Negroes said "no
compromise" and Alabama's
white delegates shouted "no
loyalty pledge" as Demo-
:iats searched for answers
•ft the holiest issues at their
lational convention.
Chanres of keeping the
Mississippi and Alabama disputes from bursting forth
upon the floor of the convention when it opens tonight appeared slim. And the
threat of a walkout by some
southern delegations remained a possibility.'
The credentials committee
failed to decide yesterday
whether the largely Negro
Mississippi Freedom Democratic delegation or the all-
white regulars from that
state should be seated. The
committee resumes today its
search for a solution it
hopes will satisfy southern
states and southern and
northern Negroes.
DR. AARON HENRY,
Negro chairman of the Freedom group from Clarksdale,
Miss., said the group would
not take a "backof-thebus'J
compromise. ^^^^_
Henry was hacked by Dr.'
Martin Luther King whoj
said "a natural reaction ot r
Negro voters would he to go
fishing Election Day" if the
Freedom party is not seated.
King heads the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference.
Two civil rights organizations set up vigil in front of
Convention Hall early today
in support of the Freedom
delegation.
The nrgnni/alinns were
Hie Congress ol Racial
Equality find the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee. More demonstrations are planned later
in the day after the credentials committee makes its
report.
HKNRY AM) KING said
they1* nad the votes in the
credentials crtrnrnllleo need"-
ell Ift tfil'PI' lllH KMIf onto,
tfle? flnoT "I I lie convention
ir IHf rtiiniiiiiiff MB "to
give seats and voips to the
freedom qeleganon. _ There
has heen speculation that
the committee, in an effort
tar-s~a 11 s 1 y I ha Nrgrops,
wBuld give trtfrrl seats On"
me lloor but no voice and
no V6te^
• llenry said his delegation
voted-to reject such an offer.
Henry and his Freedom
party want to be seated he-
cause, they say, the regular
Mississippi Democratic
party will not support President Johnson, his vice presidential choice, or the national Democratic party.
They also say the regular
"Democrats exclude Negroes
from their ranks.
* * ■
THE CKKDEXII ADS
committee thought it had
solved the Alabama problem
when it ruled that all the
Alabama delegates had to do
to he seated was take a
. loyalty pledge.
It was a thunderous no
that greeted this proposal.
The Alabama delegation,
which got its credentials he-
fore it was supposed to,
dared convention officials to
take them back. The credentials were given national
committeeman Eugene Bull
Conner of Birmingham and
he refused to surrender
them.
The credentials committee, headed by former Pennsylvania Gov. David Lawrence, ruled that each delegate would have to sign a
statement pledging support
for the candidates of the
party before being given
credentials. The southerners
hoped to gain the floor tonight to contest the loyalty
' pledge ruling.

This folder of newspaper clippings follows the MFDP from its plans to challenge the seating of five white Mississippi congressmen at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, through the Credentials Committee fight, to the effort to collect depositions showing that Mississippi African Americans had been systematically prevented from registering to vote through terror and economic intimidation, to the stalling of the MFDP's brief by U.S. Clerk of Court Ralph R. Roberts and the arrest and jailing of several Mississippians who came to Washington, D.C., to inquire about its progress, to a much-quoted statement by an MFDP worker that Mississippi blacks had no stake in the Vietnam War, and then to the defeat of the congressional challenge and the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In later events, a Republican challenger to Senator Eastland--Prentiss Walker--takes a position even further to the right than Eastland. The 1966 Mississippi state legislature considers paying other states to take Mississippi African Americans, alleging that they are "more users than producers" and it passes laws designed to make it more difficult for candidates to run for office and gerrymanders the overwhelmingly black Delta area in hopes of reducing the power of black voters. A number of articles address legal challenges to the new law, attempts by blacks to enter and win elections, and splits between the MFDP and the Young Democrats. A draft letter by Leslie McLemore resigning a teaching position is also here.

Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.

PAGE I LONG ISLAND PRESS
DEM FLOOR FIGHT LOOMS OVER DIXIE DELEGATIONS
WALKOUT BY SOME POSSIBLE
AUG 24 1964
ATLANTIC CITY (API-
Mississippi Negroes said "no
compromise" and Alabama's
white delegates shouted "no
loyalty pledge" as Demo-
:iats searched for answers
•ft the holiest issues at their
lational convention.
Chanres of keeping the
Mississippi and Alabama disputes from bursting forth
upon the floor of the convention when it opens tonight appeared slim. And the
threat of a walkout by some
southern delegations remained a possibility.'
The credentials committee
failed to decide yesterday
whether the largely Negro
Mississippi Freedom Democratic delegation or the all-
white regulars from that
state should be seated. The
committee resumes today its
search for a solution it
hopes will satisfy southern
states and southern and
northern Negroes.
DR. AARON HENRY,
Negro chairman of the Freedom group from Clarksdale,
Miss., said the group would
not take a "backof-thebus'J
compromise. ^^^^_
Henry was hacked by Dr.'
Martin Luther King whoj
said "a natural reaction ot r
Negro voters would he to go
fishing Election Day" if the
Freedom party is not seated.
King heads the Southern
Christian Leadership Conference.
Two civil rights organizations set up vigil in front of
Convention Hall early today
in support of the Freedom
delegation.
The nrgnni/alinns were
Hie Congress ol Racial
Equality find the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating
Committee. More demonstrations are planned later
in the day after the credentials committee makes its
report.
HKNRY AM) KING said
they1* nad the votes in the
credentials crtrnrnllleo need"-
ell Ift tfil'PI' lllH KMIf onto,
tfle? flnoT "I I lie convention
ir IHf rtiiniiiiiiff MB "to
give seats and voips to the
freedom qeleganon. _ There
has heen speculation that
the committee, in an effort
tar-s~a 11 s 1 y I ha Nrgrops,
wBuld give trtfrrl seats On"
me lloor but no voice and
no V6te^
• llenry said his delegation
voted-to reject such an offer.
Henry and his Freedom
party want to be seated he-
cause, they say, the regular
Mississippi Democratic
party will not support President Johnson, his vice presidential choice, or the national Democratic party.
They also say the regular
"Democrats exclude Negroes
from their ranks.
* * ■
THE CKKDEXII ADS
committee thought it had
solved the Alabama problem
when it ruled that all the
Alabama delegates had to do
to he seated was take a
. loyalty pledge.
It was a thunderous no
that greeted this proposal.
The Alabama delegation,
which got its credentials he-
fore it was supposed to,
dared convention officials to
take them back. The credentials were given national
committeeman Eugene Bull
Conner of Birmingham and
he refused to surrender
them.
The credentials committee, headed by former Pennsylvania Gov. David Lawrence, ruled that each delegate would have to sign a
statement pledging support
for the candidates of the
party before being given
credentials. The southerners
hoped to gain the floor tonight to contest the loyalty
' pledge ruling.

Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited.